With all of the pleasant surprises in East Lansing, Omaha and Fairbanks and the perennially strong play in Oxford, South Bend and Ann Arbor, this year’s CCHA title race has the makings of a season to remember. For all the positive karma, however, it’s tough not to notice Columbus, Ohio’s absence from that earlier list.

Eight games into the regular season, Ohio State has yet to find its groove, starting the season at 2-5-1 and sitting near the bottom of almost every statistical category in the conference. While the Buckeyes have looked promising at times, beating Denver at home and stealing a shootout victory at Notre Dame, coach John Markell knows that his team needs to establish some consistency to contend for their second consecutive NCAA tournament bid.

“We’re a team that has to have 20 guys going,” Markell said. “And that’s from the specialty units that are doing a lot better than they have and they’re executing better, to young kids who have to learn how to be consistent at this level, and the emotion that that takes.”

The Buckeyes were a remarkably young squad last year, and even with an additional season of experience under everyone’s belt, Mathieu Picard is the team’s only senior.

While it has to be frustrating for Markell, the veteran head coach who has helped Ohio State rebound from three consecutive disappointing seasons after a second place in 2004-05 with a near miss of a first-round bye last year, Markell is optimistic that his team can turn it around. With a few key cogs playing their second consecutive series, Markell is hoping some of the load will be taken off the shoulders of younger players who may be squeezing their sticks.

“We’re continuing to learn, we’re evolving,” Markell said. “I certainly like the team that I had on the road the last two weeks, it’s just certain guys need to be more consistent. We’re plugging some holes with Hunter Bishop coming back, and we’ve got Ian Boots back in the lineup, and there are some guys who can add some offense to us, and it should pay its dividends while the other guys who might be struggling with their game or their consistencies continue to grow and understand their role on our hockey club.”

To say a hockey player has “great wheels” is to compliment his speed on the ice. But if you were to tell Rhett Rakhshani that he had great wheels while he was learning the game on the outdoor rinks of Southern California in the mid 1990s, all you’d have been telling him is that he was properly outfitted for hockey.

Rakhshani and Denver's other offensive-minded players will need to help carry the load while starting goalie Marc Cheverie recovers from injury.

The Denver senior started playing at age five, but was nearly twice that age before he tried the game on a sheet of ice. It’s no stretch to see the kid from Huntington Beach, Calif., list surfing as one of his favorite hobbies. But with no longboards and breakers to entertain him while playing developmental hockey in Michigan, and college hockey in Colorado, he’s had to be content with a different hobby he learned not far from the Pacfic beaches: creating offense and watching the goal light behind the opponents’ net glow.

With top goaltender Marc Cheverie out of the Pioneers’ lineup for a few weeks due to a nasty cut on his leg, the focus rightly switches to the new Denver goalie, freshman Adam Murray. But the burden of leading the team, as Denver heads to Alaska Anchorage this weekend for a pair, switches to the offense. And anyone who witnessed the Pioneers’ forceful statement at Mariucci Arena two weekends ago doesn’t have to look at the team statistics to know that Rakhshani leads the way as Denver seeks to bring the MacNaughton Cup back to Magness Arena for its third visit of the decade.

“Rhett has tremendous stick skills and he’s capable of doing some wonderful things that other people just can’t do,” said George Gwozdecky, one night before Rakhshani and Cheverie would help give the Pioneers coach his 500th win. “He has such great roller hockey hands and is so fast, so what he’s able to do - pick the corner or shoot a puck off a pass, maintain possession when he’s knocked off balance - those are the things that he’s really, really good at.”

He was held to just an assist in last weekend’s home win and tie with Minnesota State, but Rakhshani had three of the team’s six goals at Minnesota and leads the team with nine points in eight games. After the Gopher series was over and his team was packing to leave Minneapolis in possession of a serious statement about who is the WCHA’s team to beat, Rakhshani reflected on those early days of learning to skate and score on wheels and concrete, rather than on blades and ice.

“Roller hockey is more of an offensive game so there are more offensive opportunities you’re given,” he said. “Through that you get to practice and learn the play. A lot of it is just hockey sense, but over time I’ve been able to develop a little bit of a scoring touch and a quick release.”

Rakhshani comes from an athletic family - his uncle Vic played tight end for the USC football team - so it’s not surprising that when he switched to ice hockey at age nine, the only real transition was learning to stop. Perhaps that was a sign of things to come, as stopping him hasn’t been easy for opponents throughout his college career.

If his coach doesn’t seem as consistently awed by the skills as others, keep in mind that Gwozdecky has had a front-row seat for the show for three seasons, and has realized that Rakhshani’s unique talents, learned outside in the Southern California sun, aren’t easy to teach, duplicate, or rein in.

“What he does sometimes may be a special effort by others, but for him that’s pretty normal,” Gwozdecky said.

The goals have changed in North Andover, Mass., and the attitude adjustment sounds so crazy it just might work.

Chris Barton

Those in the Merrimack locker room are thinking big. Despite five consecutive last-place finishes in Hockey East, the Warriors have their sights set beyond minor improvements. It’s not just about getting to the playoffs for the first time since 2003-04. Nope, Merrimack wants its banner hanging from the TD Garden in March.

“I’d say in years past, [the season's goals have] been mainly to make the playoffs,” Merrimack junior forward Chris Barton said. “As of this year, our goal right off the bat is we want to win a championship. I think we believe we can do that in our dressing room. We have the skill set and the hard work to do that. We’re striving a lot higher than we have in the past years that I’ve been here. We just really believe in this group.”

Merrimack (5-3-0, 2-1-0 HEA) has won two of its first three Hockey East games for the first time in 11 seasons, and the Warriors are 5-0-0 at home for the first time in their Hockey East history. They’re coming off of a 5-3 victory against Boston College, which snapped a 20-game winless streak (0-16-4) against the Eagles, a dry spell that dated back to Feb. 15, 2003.

Plus, Barton leads all Hockey East players with seven goals, and freshman forward Stephane Da Costa is second in the league with six goals and first among freshmen with 10 points. Barton said the team’s scoring depth has been a major factor for the team this season, as Merrimack is second in Hockey East with 3.75 goals per game.

“I thought we were strong last year, as well,” Barton said. “We just needed that second punch, or that second line to give us a little more depth to get over the top in a few of those games.”

Granted, the season is only a month old, but it’s a stark turnaround for the Warriors, who were 38-115-19 in the last five seasons. Merrimack is 18-100-14 in that span against Hockey East competition but has actually managed a winning record against non-conference opponents (20-15-5).

Barton thinks the major difference with the Warriors this season is having a group of players who understand how to win - not just games, but championships. Fifth-year Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy has made it a point to recruit winners such as Barton, sophomore forward Jesse Todd and sophomore defenseman Karl Stollery, who all won the Alberta Junior Hockey League championship together with Camrose in 2007. Plus, freshman defenseman Kyle Bigos won the Royal Bank Cup last with with Vernon of the British Columbia Hockey League.

“I think it’s very important,” Barton said about having a collection of players who understand the winning mentality. “What we’re trying to do now is, basically, when we put our jersey on, we want to put it on like [Boston University] would put their jersey on. A lot of teams, when they put that jersey on, they think they’re going to win. We’re trying to bring that here. If you’ve won in the past, you start to believe that. Once you start winning, that will happen.”

It’s obviously not an easy process, but Dennehy knows how to turn around a program, as he was an assistant coach for Don Cahoon at UMass from 2000-05. While Barton and the team’s veterans are hoping this is the dawn of a new era at Merrimack, he refuses to ignore the dark ages they’re still trying to emerge from, and that remains the root of their motivation.

“We will never forget the past and what’s happened,” Barton said. “I think that’s why - what Dennehy has done over the years - he’s brought in so many different guys and changed the face of the program. We want to get it back to where it used to be, 20 years ago, I guess. We’re never going to forget it or forget the guys and all of the hard work they’ve put in. To see the hard work paying off now is great.”

Gary Wright was very enthused about the prospects for his American International College hockey team headed into the season. Nothing has been diminished there, but now he has to focus efforts on recovery from a freak injury which has sidelined the 26-year veteran coach before the first puck was dropped.

An accident with a garage door at his home left Wright with serious leg injuries. Surgery has repaired the tendons that were ripped off the bones of both quadriceps muscles, and he has been getting around with braces and a walker.

Assistant coach Mike Field has been running the team in Wright’s absence. Field is in his second season at AIC, having served as a graduate assistant coach last season.

Wright, one of the classiest coaches in Atlantic Hockey, was in attendance as the Yellow Jackets recorded their first victory of the season on Friday, a 3-0 home victory over Holy Cross. The next night, AIC earned a 4-4 tie with the Crusaders on the return trip to Worcester.

October awards – Dan Ringwald, a senior defenseman with RIT, was named the Atlantic Hockey player of the month. In seven games, the Oakville, Ont., resident posted three goals and six assists, and has a five-game point streak. He had three assists in a 6-2 win over Connecticut on Oct. 30, and followed that with RIT’s first natural hat trick at the Division I level.

Thomas Tysowsky, a freshman with Holy Cross, was named the goaltender of the month. The Amherst, N.Y., resident posted his first two collegiate victories. His 2.39 goals against ranks second in the league and his .912 save percentage ranks third. He has made five starts.

Adam Pleskach, a freshman from Beausejour, Man., was named the rookie of the month, posting five goals and two assists. Pleskach had a goal in three of four games, scoring twice in a loss to RPI. He had three goals and an assist in the weekend series with RPI and Union.

Getting on the scoresheet – Atlantic Hockey has 21 players averaging at least one point per game through the first month. Senior Dave Jarman of Sacred Heart has nine points through five games to lead the way at 1.8 per game. Junior Andrew Favot of RIT leads the league with 10 points (two goals) through seven games. Sacred Heart senior Nick Johnson leads the league with six goals in five games – last season he only had three tallies in 24 games.

RIT Beats UConn to Win Column – Rochester Institute of Technology snapped a five-game season-opening losing streak by posting a sweep of visiting Connecticut, 6-2 and 7-0.

UConn falls to 0-6-0 overall and 0-3-0 in league play – the Huskies got off to an 0-5-0 start in 2006-07. The Huskies have been outscored 29-8, with 11 opponent tallies on the power play as the Huskies are killing at a .744 rate.

Too bad the points don’t count – Army got off to a 0-4-1 start but rebounded with a solid run through ECAC territory last weekend. The Black Knights forged a 4-4 tie at Colgate on Friday, coming from behind four times. Joey Spracklen made 38 saves. Army posted a pair of third-period goals in a 2-1 win at RPI on Halloween. Jay Clark turned aside 39 shots, including 14 in the third period.

“You could tell early that Jay was on top of his game,” said Army coach Brian Riley. “Obviously, he was our most valuable player. He made some key saves. We made it hard on ourselves by taking penalties. Your goalie has to be your best penalty killer and he was tonight.”

It was Army’s first win over an ECAC Hockey school since beating Colgate 3-2 on Oct. 30, 2004.

Remember when? – Army and Colgate met for the first time in 1917, a 5-2 Colgate victory. The series with RPI goes back even longer, to 1906 when Army used to play on a makeshift frozen pond at West Point.

Back on top – Air Force sits atop Atlantic Hockey with a 3-1 record following an 0-4 non-conference start. A sweep of visiting RIT was followed with a split at Canisius – the Falcons dropped the opener 3-1 and bounced back with a 4-1 win on Sunday.

Nearly half (10) of the Falcons’ 21 goals have come on the power play: Jeff Hajner has three with Jacques Lamoureux and Matt Fairchild notching a pair apiece. Senior Andrew Volkening has a 2.22 goals against and .933 save percentage in league play, far more representative of his play than the 5.91 and .801 he posted in the opening four setbacks.

Time to man up – Mercyhurst has bounced back from an 0-4-0 start with a 2-1-1 effort in league play. The Lakers’ special teams, however, are still lagging behind. Mercyhurst is 3-for-49 (.061) on the power play and just 35-for-48 (.729) on the penalty kill. Last season the Lakers posted a .215 percentage on the power play and .855 on the kill.

Nice newcomers – Bentley’s Dan Koudys has produced three goals and four assists in his first five games with the Falcons. The Air Force tandem of John Kruse and Kyle De Laurell each have six points. AIC rookie Ben Meisner leads the league in goals against (1.51) and save percentage (.955).

We stopped in at ESPN.com’s SportsNation to answer questions in our weekly Thursday college hockey chat.

There was quite a bit of preseason talk about Niagara’s early schedule that featured a six-game road trip through Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Michigan, Cornell, Colgate and UMass after the Purple Eagles’ home opener October 9.

Senior defenseman Tyler Gotto has a hand in six of Niagara's 16 goals (two goals, four assists).

Included were home openers for three teams, but even with the strength of schedule, very few people envisioned Niagara being one of just five teams in the nation without a victory after an 0-5-1 start.

“It’s been an exciting time, but going in we expected to fare better,” head coach Dave Burkholder said. “(Playing) three home openers in some of the greatest venues in college hockey has tested where we are as a team.

“We are not satisfied with our record as a whole, but there have been positives on the ice. Moreso than in other leagues, our schedule allows us to test ourselves early, so why wouldn’t we?”

Looking deeper their current won-loss record, the Purps held leads in four of their six games so far. They had 2-0 and 4-1 leads at home against Colgate before allowing the Raiders to tie the game in the third period.

The trip to northern New York saw a 2-1 lead at Clarkson and a 3-0 advantage at St. Lawrence disappear. And the squad held a 2-1 lead midway through last weekend’s game at Colgate before falling.

“The power play is a work in progress (ranked 56th of 58 at 4% with one goal in 25 chances),” Burkholder said, “but we have some young kids in key spots and some of our older players are not off to great starts.”

The statistics also bear out their late-game struggles, being outscored 7-1 and outshot by 28 shots in the third period. Add in two overtime goals against and a .500 or better record seems like just an eyelash away.

“Our guys have been very honest in their self evaluations and you don’t get leads in three buildings like we have without doing something right,” Burkholder added. “Bemidji State last season started the year 2-7 and went to the Frozen Four.”

It doesn’t get any easier this weekend with a home-and-home Friday and Sunday against UMass, 17th in the INCH Power Rankings, before kicking off their conference schedule next week. The Minutemen have scored 11 of their 19 total goals with the man advantage and outscored their opponents 8-2 in the final period over five games.

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

· Alabama-Huntsville is off this week and has just six games on the schedule before the holiday break. After a pair of overtime conference losses last week, it is a key stretch for the Chargers with four of the six in conference and on the road.

· Bemidji State hosts Robert Morris this weekend for a pair. The Colonials last season accounted for the only two losses the Beavers had over the final 17 games of the season before the Frozen Four.

· Bemidji State’s Jordan George, Niagara’s Marc Zanette and Alabama-Huntsville’s Justin Cseter are putting in early bids for the CHA All-Rookie team forward spots with a combined eight goals and seven assists.

DAN RINGWALD
Rochester Institute of Technology
Sr. | D | Oakville, Ontario

His Statistics: 2 GP, 3-3—6, 5 power-play points

His Impact: The RIT Tigers made the jump to Division I hockey just five years ago and have experienced a lot of success in that time. Entering last weekend’s games with an 0-5-0 record was unfamiliar territory for the Tigers, but they broke through with a big offensive weekend in a two-game sweep of Connecticut in an Atlantic Hockey series.

RIT scored 13 goals over the two games with a 6-2 win on Friday and 7-0 win on Saturday. The Tigers were 4-for-7 on the power play in the Friday win and 2-for-9 in Saturday’s win and power-play quarterback Dan Ringwald keyed the offensive surge.

Ringwald had three assists in Friday’s win, all of which came on the power play, and scored a natural hat trick in Saturday’s win. His three straight goals in the first period stretched RIT’s lead to 4-0.

He’s been a consistent point producer over his entire RIT career and entered the season as RIT’s all-time leader in assists and points by a defenseman at the Division I level and is a two-time All-Atlantic Hockey first-team selection. His big weekend helped start turning RIT’s season in a positive direction.

His Runners-Up: Alex Beaudry, Providence; Scott Greenham, Alaska; Alexander Killorn, Harvard; Nathan Longpre, Robert Morris; Tony Lucia, Minnesota

The INCH Player of the Week is presented by The INCH Shop

Could you tell last weekend was Halloween for college hockey, too? A bunch of defensemen across the nation got into the spirit by masquerading as Paul Coffey.

Ringwald had back-to-back, three-point nights, but five other blueliners put forth three-point games. Ringwald’s RIT compadre, Al Mazur, had three goals and an assist against Connecticut Friday, the same night St. Lawrence’s Peter Child recorded a hat trick against Sacred Heart.

On Saturday, a trio of defensemen racked up three assists—Cullen Lundholm of Robert Morris, who had three assists in a win over Quinnipiac; Wisconsin’s Brendan Smith, who did it against New Hampshire; and Minnesota State’s Ben Youds, who accomplished the feat against Denver.

We briefly mentioned that there was some market correction in this week’s INCH Power Rankings in regard to some Hockey East teams. Specifically, these are teams that are at or below .500 through the first month of the season. Defending national champion Boston University is 2-3-0, as is Northeastern—an NCAA Tournament team from a year ago. Vermont, despite some impressive early wins, is also 2-3-0. BC is at .500 with a 2-2-0 mark and New Hampshire is 2-4-1 after being blown out in two games at Wisconsin last weekend. Full credit goes to Massachusetts (4-1-0), UMass Lowell (4-2-0) and upstarts Merrimack (5-3-0) and Providence (5-2-0), but the trend of slow starts for many of the teams is troubling. 

“I think that’s a terrible precedent for a league, and I think the integrity of the league’s at stake when you make that sort of decision … You’re actually encouraging member institutions to cheat, as long as they don’t get caught before the game is declared over.”—Nebraska-Omaha athletic director Trev Alberts to Chad Purcell of the Omaha World-Herald following the Mavericks’ controversial shootout loss to Bowling Green Friday in which the Falcons used an ineligible player.

Alberts, the former All-American linebacker at Nebraska and football commentator, went on to say that he was disappointed by the CCHA’s “lack of leadership.” He never minced words on the air, and it appears that hasn’t changed. That’s great, because in our opinion the happy-happy-joy-joy CCHA could use a little piss and vinegar. 

We’re nitpicking here—isn’t that the point of this feature?—but New Hampshire somehow appeared on the ballots of enough voters to garner seven points in the latest USCHO.com/CBS College Sports just days after getting throttled twice at Wisconsin last weekend. With a 2-4-1 record, can anyone honestly say UNH is one of the 20 best teams in the country or has even played to that level? It begs the question, are voters actually casting ballots based on the previous weekend’s results? In this instance, it seems more like a vote for the program or a vote of familiarity (i.e. UNH has been good in the past, so they’re probably good this year, too) more than anything.

SchlossmanGF Which Halloween costume of Jonny Toews is better? Dumb and Dumber or Wolverine?

Brad Elliot Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald forwarded the above links Monday. In addition to former Fighting Sioux and current Chicago Blackhawks standout Toews, we get a look at the costumes of ex-collegians Adam Burish (Wisconsin), Duncan Keith (Michigan State), and Patrick Sharp (Vermont). Makes one wonder what these guys did with all the free time they had during the lockout.

Maury Edwards and UMass Lowell play a home-and-home series this weekend with Boston University, the team that outlasted them in the 2009 Hockey East playoff championship game.

This weekend promises to be one of the most sports-heavy 48 hours in recorded history. The World Series continues in Philadelphia Saturday, it’s another huge weekend of college football, and the NFL, NHL, and NBA have full slates of regular-season action. Still, the college hockey action this weekend takes a back seat to no other sport. Does intrigue abound? Not sure, but the trick-or-treater at the front door wearing the intrigue costume says he’s up for a few jumps.

Boston University vs. UMass Lowell (at Lowell Friday; at Boston Saturday): Plenty of intrigue surrounding the first big clash of the season in Hockey East. As you can read in Jeff Howe’s preview of the series, the River Hawks still feel the sting of the 1-0 loss to BU in the Hockey East championship game. Whether that defeat is legitimate motivation for this weekend’s series is debatable; more important for UMass Lowell is establishing itself as a team that’s in the conference championship race for the long haul, much like Northeastern did when it beat Boston College early last season.

The Terriers, meanwhile, feel like they’re on the upswing following Saturday’s 3-2 win against Michigan at Agganis Arena. Goaltender Kieran Millan was particularly sharp with 33 saves, a good sign for a team whose offense hasn’t quite found its stride. Now that junior forward Nick Bonino is on the shelf for somewhere in the neighborhood of a month with a shoulder injury, Jack Parker’s task of reconstructing an offensive attack that lost Colin Wilson, Chris Higgins, Jason Lawrence, Brandon Yip, and Matt Gilroy becomes that much more difficult.

Yale at Princeton (Saturday):  Before you roll your eyes, keep in mind that this game on Saturday is the only one in the country this weekend that matches two teams who were in last year’s NCAA Tournament.

This season has potential to be a great one for several elite Ivy League programs and we finally get a chance to see how they’ll start their season when they formally take the ice for initial games this weekend. And what better way to start than by checking in on two of the projected powers when Yale visits Princeton Saturday in a non-league matchup. As Ric Flair famously exclaimed, “In order to be the man, you’ve got to beat the man,” and Yale was the undisputed man last year by winning both the regular season and playoff championships in ECAC Hockey. Princeton returns Hobey Baker finalist Zane Kalemba in net and a veteran defense corps. Yale has some of the most talented forwards in the league with the likes of Mark Arcobello, Sean Backman, Broc Little, and Brian O’Neill in the lineup.

New Hampshire at Wisconsin (Friday-Saturday): The collection of talent the Badgers have amassed on the blue line is indeed impressive, but the best defenseman on the Kohl Center ice this weekend might just be UNH sophomore Blake Kessel. A native of nearby Verona, Wis., Kessel has scored 3-7-10 in five games this season after recording 6-7-13 in 37 games as a freshman. Wildcat goaltender Brian Foster is off to a bumpy start as evidenced by his .854 save percentage in five starts.

A 1-2-1 start certainly isn’t what Bucky anticipated two weeks into the regular season, but the goaltending has been a pleasant surprise: Juniors Brett Bennett and Scott Gudmandson have combined for a 1.71 GAA and a .933 save percentage. Wisconsin freshman forward Craig Smith will miss the series after getting hit with a checking-from-behind major penalty and a game disqualification at Minnesota State last weekend-coach Mike Eaves tacked on an extra game suspension in addition to the automatic DQ.

Bemidji State at Alabama-Huntsville (Friday-Saturday): Sure, this is an important conference series and both teams are off to good starts, relatively speaking. But with the CHA’s demise looming, the first of three series this season between the Beavers and Chargers give us a chance to reminisce.

In case you didn’t know, BSU and UAH were fierce rivals back in the mid-1990’s when both teams were NCAA Division II superpowers. Four times between 1994-99, the Beavers and Chargers met for the national title, which was decided by a best-of-three series. Bemidji State won in 1994 and 1997; Alabama-Huntsville won in 1996 and 1998. In the ‘94 series, the Beavers earned the title by winning the rubber match in overtime.

Also: Harvard’s heralded freshman class makes its debut at Dartmouth Friday … Ohio State and Notre Dame clash in South Bend … Alaska (3-0-1) opens CCHA play when it hosts Ferris State (5-1-0) … Denver gets Joe Colborne (broken finger) back in the lineup for this weekend’s series with Minnesota State. The Mavericks, meanwhile, will be without captain Geoff Irwin, who was on the receiving end of the aforementioned hit delivered by Wisconsin’s Craig Smith last weekend in Mankato.

On TV: Friday—Minnesota State at Denver, Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain, 9:30 p.m. ET; Alaska Anchorage at Minnesota, Fox Sports Net North, Midnight (tape delay). Sunday—Alaska Anchorage at Minnesota, Fox Sports Net North, 5 p.m. ET.

While few would argue that Western Michigan has been a perpetually a tough opponent on any given night, it has been more than a decade since the Broncos have been considered a serious contender in the CCHA. But after starting the season with four straight wins for the first time in 20 years, the icers from Kalamazoo have their eyes set on more significant prizes than the home playoff series victory over Lake Superior that is the team’s legacy from last year.

Veteran goalie Riley Gill is an experienced member of a Western Michigan club that is enjoying early-season success.

Having finally seen the pieces come together during the team’s present winning streak in addition to a 5-2-1 stretch to close out last year’s regular season which helped the Broncos earn a home-ice playoff series, the Broncos have now set their sights on making it through the next round of the playoffs to the bright lights of Joe Louis Arena and the CCHA Championship weekend.

“I don’t think we’re going to settle for anything less than being the best in this league,” sophomore J.J. Crew said. “We think we can make it to (Joe Louis Arena) and we think we can hang with anyone in this league.”

Crew has played a significant role in Western Michigan’s early-season success, leading the team with six points. Teaming up with Max Campbell and Greg Squires on what may well be one of the league’s top scoring lines, Crew opened the season with a hat trick on opening night and a 1-2-3 line in the second game against Mercyhurst before being held scoreless during the trip to Alabama-Huntsville last weekend.

Despite his absence from the scoresheet in Huntsville, Crew was happy with his performance, and is encouraged by the results he and his teammates are seeing from hard work during the summer and preseason workouts.

“I think that we’re on the right track,” Crew said. “Everyone has been working hard since the summer and we have a lot of chemistry on the ice and we’re clicking on all cylinders.”

The chemistry Crew spoke of came is evident in the team’s ability to win in different situations. With two wins coming at home and two on the road, two leading from the onset and two come-from-behind victories and a blowout coming before three one-goal games, Western Michigan has faced an interesting spectrum of game situations that will help acclimate freshmen to the sometimes unpredictable nature of the college game and give veterans like senior goaltender Riley Gill a sense of optimism this year’s team.

Gill, who has compiled a .942 save percentage and 1.67 goals against average in his three wins, has won some big games in the past and knows that the Broncos’ ability to protect their own leads and erase opponents’ advantages will serve the team well as the begin the CCHA slate, starting with a home-and-home series against Michigan State.

“The first weekend against Mercyhurst we put goals up on the board and then we won a couple of tight ones on the road this past weekend,” Gill said. “I think that we’ve proven that we can win both ways.”

After Bemidji State ran the table in the CHA Tournament and the NCAA Midwest Regional on their way to the Frozen Four last season, they lost six seniors who accounted for 38 percent of their scoring and a sophomore goaltender who turned pro early.

Fast forward to 2009-10 and the parts have changed, but the car is still purring.

A home-opening weekend sweep against Air Force was followed by a win and tie at Northern Michigan last week, and has set up the Beavers with a little momentum as they open conference action at also-off-to-a-great-start Alabama-Huntsville.

Goaltender Dan Bakela has been solid in his first collegiate action with freshman Mathieu Dugas not only winning his first game last Saturday, but picking up a shutout in the process.

“It was a great effort,” Bemidji State coach Tom Serratore said to the Bemidji Pioneer about the 5-0 Saturday win. “You look back over the course of the last 10 years since we have been Division I and you think about some of the big wins, and this ranks right up there.”

One night prior, Ben Kinne scored with 10.6 seconds remaining to help the Beavers earn a 3-3 tie.

“This is not an easy place to play,” Serratore said. “It’s tough to get one point out of Marquette let alone three. Our guys played with just a ton of jam. I’m really proud of the way our guys played.”

Over four games this season, Bemidji State has the nation’s best offensive average with 18 goals, 4.5 goals per game.

Matt Read is leading the team in scoring, but freshman Jordan George, Ryan Cramer, Chris McKelvie, Tyler Lehrke and defenseman Brad Hunt are all averaging one point per game.

“Our seniors are carrying the mail,” Serratore said. “We need our experienced players to elevate their games. Hopefully we can continue to score by committee.”

The Beavers took six of seven games last season against the Chargers including a playoff win. The one misstep was a first-game, first-series loss at Rocket Town.

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

• The Bemidji State-UAH series this weekend is an unusual Saturday-Sunday affair with a matinee for the finale. The Beavers liked Sundays last season going 2-0-1 with wins over UMass and Cornell.

• Robert Morris hosts Quinnipiac this weekend in their regular season home-opening series. Last year in Quinnipiac, the two teams combined for 22 goals over a two game split. Good news for junior Nathan Longpre, who is still goalless over four games.

• Just like the early going last season, Alabama-Huntsville goaltender Cameron Talbot is among the top ten in Division I in save percentage at .942.

• One tie over four games does not look good on paper, but all three Niagara losses have been one-goal affairs. The first two involved watching early leads go away over the final 20 minutes but last week at Michigan reversed the trend with a pair of goals to close a three-goal gap. “Our third period has been our worst period, that’s the trend we were setting in the first three games,” Burkholder said to the Niagara Gazette. “To come out and play as well as we did in the third, we had some big-time body checks, and we outshot them.”